Some characters look good
in white. You'd expect an astronaut action
figure
to wear white. Clone Troopers look good in white. Most heroic Gundams
have a
predominance of white on them. Even Megatron, one of the biggest villains
in the
toy world, is mostly sort of an off-white.

Then there's the latest version
of the HALO Master Chief figure, from the
mega-popular XBox video game, by way of Joyride Studios. Previous
versions of
this figure have included a rather traditional army green, a red figure,
a blue
figure, and a special mail-order clear version. The newest incarnation
has
armor panels that are sort of an off-white. So, how's he look?

Darned impressive. If George
Lucas had hired a few thousand of these guys
to
play the Clone Troopers, the Separatists would've surrendered on the
spot.

I'll admit, I've never played
the HALO video game. I do not own an XBox,
I
doubt my computer could handle the PC version, and I'm terrible at video
games
anyway. But I've never heard anything but very positive things about
the
game,
and certainly there's no denying the popularity of the concept. Video
game,
action figures, a series of paperback novels. I'm sincerely surprised
there
hasn't been a movie. And the sequel game comes out this fall.

But, I know a cool-looking
design when I see one, and there's something
about
the Master Chief's high-tech armor suit that manages to be both fantastic
and
plausible at the same time. It looks mean, it looks ready for a fight,
it
looks like it can stand up in a fight -- and it also manages to look
like
something the United States Armed Forces would develop if they had the
budget for it.

There's something a little
more futuristic about the off-white version of
it
compared to the other colors. Granted, the Star Wars comparison is
inevitable.
When one thinks of an armored soldier dressed in white with black trim,
you're going to start thinking of Stormtroopers, Clone Troopers, Biker
Scouts,
whatever. Fortunately, that gleaming gold-chrome visor immediately sets
the Master
Chief apart from anything LucasFilm ever came up with.

I also know a good action
figure when I see one, and the Master Chief
certainly qualifies. After getting some early kinks out that resulted
in
rather loose
parts on both the green and red Master Chiefs, and I'm not buying
Joyride's
denials in a response to an e-mail inquiry I made to them that they
didn't do
anything, the blue and now the white Master Chief have very tightly
articulated
parts. Might almost be too tight. I recommend some level of caution
in
initial movement.

However, once you've got
the stiffness out of his joints, you'll find
that
you have a truly superbly-made action figure in the Master Chief. He
stands
about 8 inches in height, is very sturdily built, excellently
articulated, not at
all pre-posed, and he looks darn cool and can assume any number of action
poses.

The newly-released white
version comes with a futuristic rifle, but also
a
very cool and highly-detailed flamethrower, which I am told is an
exclusive to
the PC version of the game. At the risk of making yet another Star Wars
comparison, this contraption looks like somebody stripped down a
miniature Speeder
Bike. It also looks like an entirely plausible device that could torch
just
about anything that got in its way. The detail is superb, even including
a number
of decorative and instructive labels, the latter of which are moderately
legible, although the type size can probably be measures in microns
rather than
points.

This is the second to the
last of the original Master Chiefs, and the
last
one expected, a black one, may be an online exclusive. After that, we
get
the
HALO 2 Master Chief, who fortunately does not look that drastically
different
from the original. The design is an upgrade -- not, thankfully, a total
reworking. The makers of HALO know they have a good design that there's
no reason to
mess with extensively.

As for the new white Master
Chief figure, if you're any sort of HALO fan,
or
even just someone who appreciates a well-made action figure, then I
most
definitely recommend a visit to your local GameStop, Suncoast, or
Software Etc, and
ask them for the HALO White Master Chief! You will enjoy him!